


with all the light

by abbyli



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Fluff, Brotherly Love, But Nothing New There, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Healing, Jacob is a Sweetiepie, Married Jaqueenie, Married Newtina, Post-Movie 2: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Queenie is Back On the Light Side, Sisterly Love, Theseus Has a Niffler, coming home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 18:38:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17048486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbyli/pseuds/abbyli
Summary: Newt’s Patronus woke her out of a dead sleep.The blue crane lifts its majestic head and opens its mouth, speaking with Newt’s voice and startling Jacob awake.“Come to St. Mungo’s. Theseus and Tina have been injured.”Weeks ago, the Minister had come to Theseus with a mission to gather up a team of Aurors to go to Russia and infiltrate an underground group of Grindelwald's followers.Naturally, Tina had been at the top of the list of candidates.





	with all the light

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: I know Theseus and Newt are supposed to eight years apart but I fixed it to four years. 
> 
> This takes place four years after Crimes of Grindelwald.

.

.

Newt’s Patronus woke her out of a dead sleep.

The blue crane lifts its majestic head and opens its mouth, speaking with Newt’s voice and startling Jacob awake. “ _Come to St. Mungo’s. Theseus and Tina have been injured.”_

Queenie sits up too fast and grabs for her wand as the crane fades away. Jacob rises too, running a hand through his curly hair. “St. Mungo’s?”

“The hospital,” Queenie responds. “The wizards’ hospital here in London. We’re going to need to Floo there.”

Jacob nods and throws the covers off, padding into the bathroom to grab up his clothes he had set out for the early opening of the bakery today. Queenie glances at the clock on the mantel as she walks out to the sitting room. Just after midnight.

Three weeks ago, the Minister had come to Theseus with the wish for him to organize a team of the strongest aurors and go to Russia. An underground operation of Grindelwald’s followers had been found, and he had wanted Theseus to use the team to take down as many as they could, and to keep as many alive as they could.

Naturally, Tina had been at the top of the list of candidates.

Jacob comes out a moment later, his jacket unbuttoned and his shoes on, still blinking sleep out of his eyes. “All right, I’m ready.”

She guides him into the fireplace and hands him the small box of emerald green powder that sits next to the clock. “Remember to speak clearly or else it could send you somewhere else, all right?”

“St. Mungos’, right?” Queenie nods. Jacob had only Flooed once before and that had been to Newt and Tina’s for Rosh Hashanah. He had vomited all over her shoes when it was over. He takes a pinch of the powder and hands the box back, holding his own hand out and letting the powder fall. “St. Mungo’s Hospital!”

Queenie steps back as the roar of the fire engulfs her husband and carries him away. With a shaky breath, she takes a pinch of powder and does the same, making sure her voice is clear before she lets it drop from her fingertips and to her feet. The fire is warm and soothing as it carries her up and away, landing her moments later into the lobby of St. Mungo’s.

Jacob’s waiting for her, already holding his ID. Before their wedding, Tina had gotten Jacob a special ID that let him into magical places that would have ordinarily been cloaked from his eyes. He helps her out of the fireplace, linking their fingers together as they walk to the receptionist’s desk.

The witch looks up at her through very long eyelashes. “Name?”

“Oh! Uh, my name or who I am here to see?”

She can hear the receptionist scoff in her thoughts. “Both, honey.” Queenie rattles off her own name and then Tina’s, both she and Jacob passing their IDs through the small opening in the protective glass that wraps around her desk. “Fourth floor.”

“Th-thanks.” Queenie grabs onto Jacob’s hand again and frogmarches him to the golden lifts.

They get on, the gate closing in front of them. “Are you all right?” Jacob asks.

Queenie shakes her head. “The fourth floor is spell damage.”

“That’s bad, isn’t it?”

She nods. “Yes love. That’s bad.”

When the gates open on the fourth floor, the first thing they see is a long hallway, witches and wizards in lime green robes going back and forth between rooms. Jacob stays back as Queenie asks what he perceives is a nurse for directions, coming forward only when she waves her fingers at him.

“She’s down here and from what I got off of her mind, Newt’s brother is across the hall.”

Before Queenie can knock on the wooden door, it’s whipped open to reveal an exhausted looking Newt, who almost trembles in relief at the sight of them. “Merlin’s beard, you’re here.”

“Where else would we be, buddy?” Jacob offers and Newt manages a small smile, accepting the hand he extends. He stiffens slightly at Queenie’s hug but doesn’t pull away, stepping back to let them in.

Queenie’s breath catches in her throat at the sight of her sister, laying so still and looking so small in that large white bed. The covers are pulled up to her chest and her hands rest on top of them, chestnut locks tussled up against the pillow like Newt had been stroking her hair back from her forehead.

“Wh-what happened to her?”

“Grindelwald’s followers knew they were coming and Theseus and Tina didn’t realize it until the last minute. They were both tortured. Badly.” Newt lets out a helpless gasp and Queenie can hear the pain in his mind. “The healer says it would be a miracle if they both woke up.”

“Where’s Theseus right now?” Jacob asks.

“Across the hall,” Newt confirms. “I’ve already sent a Patronus to our parents, but I haven’t received an answer. I believe our mother said in her last owl that she was going to be visiting Albania and Father might go with her. But I cannot be sure, so I sent an owl. I just hope that –“ His voice breaks and he covers his mouth with a shaking hand.

Queenie flicks her wand and summons the chair from beside the window so it settles down behind Newt. He sinks into it, his fingers running through his matted hair. “Jacob...uh Jacob?”

“Right here, buddy.”

“Could you do me a favor? Could you go across the hall and sit with Theseus?” Jacob nods. “I don’t want him to be alone but I can’t leave –“ He casts a glance at Tina’s unconscious form. “ _Please_.”

“Of course. Whatever you need.” Jacob shares a look with Queenie and she summons a chair for herself as he disappears from the room, the heavy wooden door clacking shut behind him.

-;

Jacob half wonders if the room will let him in since he’s not family. Queenie had told him that the hospital had several protection spells all through the wards but it didn’t stop some of the patients from wandering about. He stops in front of the door and rests his hand on the knob, waiting for something to spring out and jinx him but nothing happens. With a light push, the door comes open to reveal a long white and yellow floor, with a single bed covered in white and yellow blankets. He glimpses the top of Theseus’s sandy brown head and the bruises littering his face, his stomach rolling over at the sight.

“Damn Scamander.”

Jacob wanders over to the only window in the room, moonlight gleaming through and casting shadows across the floor. A few candles hover without support in the corner, casting just enough light that he can see.

He had gotten to know the elder Scamander brother in the months after Paris. After Queenie had gone away and he had watched, horrified, as the girl that both of the brothers loved gave herself up to give them the time to survive. It was a time that he wasn’t anxious to recollect but it would always be there. They didn’t have a ‘friendship’ per se, like what a person would describe was between him and Newt but they grew to like each other and understand each other, especially after the loss of that day.

There’s a chair by the window and Jacob settles in for the long night.

-;

For the next several hours, Queenie and Jacob continuously swap places between the two rooms. Newt refuses to leave Tina’s side, not even for his creatures and Queenie can tell then just how bad this truly is. Jacob goes down into the case to feed the mooncalves while Queenie sits with Theseus and makes small beams of light come from the end of her wand and dance lazily around the room. The hospital room is so sterile and cold, there needed to be some warmth too, she tells Jacob when it’s time for the shift change.

“How are the children?” she asks as she gets to her feet. The healer had been in in the last hour, checking over Theseus’ vitals, only to tell her that there was no change. “Are they well?”

Jacob smiles. “The mooncalves are more adorable than ever. And I brought up someone that wanted to see Newt and Tina very much. Actually, a couple of someones.” He open his coat and a sweet furry face pops out.

Queenie grins and gently scoops the young niffler up. “She’s Theseus’ favorite.” The niffler spies Theseus’ still form and starts to squeak, straining her little arms against Queenie’s hands to get to him. She loosens her fingers and lets the small furry bundle crawl up the covers and curl up underneath Theseus’ chin. “Maybe she will help.”

“Maybe,” Jacob says, taking the seat she just vacated.

Queenie walks across the hall in time to see a shine of silver light streak by the window and suddenly come right in. “Newt!”

Her brother in law sits up straight, awoken out of his doze as the silver takes the shape of a large sloth and speaks with the voice of Newt and Theseus’ mother.

 _“Received your owl and will be arriving by Portkey by morning.”_ The sloth fades away into nothingness and Queenie looks over at Newt, who slumps into his seat again.

“That’s good. Then you can get some rest.”

Newt shakes his head. “I am not leaving her.”

“Newt –“

He cuts across her. “How’s my brother?”

Queenie sighs and glimpses the small sliver of green peeping up from his jacket pocket. Pickett gives her a little wave and she smiles back. “The same. No change. Jacob brought him Merry though.”

“He asked me if he could. Merry was always my brother’s favorite.”

Queenie sees a shadow of guilt cross his face and she can read him well. She knows Tina had taught him Occlumency and he had adapted to it easily but now he was wide open like a book. “He would understand, you know.”

Newt shakes his head, keeping his eyes resting on his and Tina’s joined fingers. “I’m sure he would.”

Queenie doesn’t have to look into Newt’s mind to know he doesn’t believe that.

-;

The Scamanders arrive at daybreak, just as promised.

Each brother is the picture of each parent. Newt resembles their mother with the light copper hair and soft, warm blue eyes. Theseus is their father, but just twenty five years older and both parents wear several spotted freckles across their noses and cheeks.

“Mother, Dad, you remember Queenie, Tina’s sister.”

Fiona Scamander nods at her, smiling. “I would say it’s nice to see you again, dear, but under the circumstances...”

Queenie nods in understanding. The door opens and Jacob appears, sighing in relief at the sight of the elder Scamanders. “I’m sure you already know but I will take you to Theseus.”

Their father nods and quickly follows, but Fiona stays behind for a moment, frowning at her younger son. “Have you seen your brother since you arrived here?” Queenie tries her best not to listen to the older woman’s thoughts but then her hackles rise. “Have you even _bothered –“_

“Hey!” Fiona stumbles into silence at her outburst. The older woman gives her a nasty look but Queenie doesn’t care. “Theseus hasn’t been alone. Jacob and I have been taking turns sitting with him since we got here. Your son hasn’t left his _wife’s_ side but he made sure that his brother wouldn’t be alone. Are you _happy,_ Mrs. Scamander?”

Newt’s staring at her like she had grown another head but she pays him no mind, fixing the other woman with a glare just as furious as the one she had received. “If you are quite finished, you should go and see your boy.”

Once Fiona is gone, the door slamming behind her, Newt flinches away but still doesn’t let go of Tina’s hand. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Queenie settles back down in her seat. “I know.” She watches her sister’s face for a moment. “I always felt a little stupid when it came to Tina.” She quickly shakes her head. “Don’t get me wrong, I worship the ground she walks on but – she was always so perfect. And I know she wasn’t trying to be, she was just _better_ at everything. I wasn’t surprised when she decided to become an Auror, and I knew she would be good at it. It took her nearly killing a No-Maj – er Muggle to defend a boy for her to lose her job and to be honest, I couldn’t have been prouder.” She laughs quietly at the memory. “That didn’t stop me from teasing her when she got busted down to secretary and joined me in the slums.”

Newt’s quiet still, and he seems just as lost in thought as before. His next words are so soft she almost misses them. “Thank you.”

Queenie gets up from her seat and walks around the end of her sister’s bed to stand beside his chair, lightly resting her fingers on his shoulder. He doesn’t shy away to her surprise and almost slumps down when she does touch him. “Go see him and then get some rest. She won’t be alone. _Newt_? She won’t be alone.”

He nods, no argument or fight left in him. He kisses Tina’s fingers, holding his lips to her skin for a long while. Queenie helps him stand, his knees knocking together like a newborn mooncalf. She mutters a quiet soothing charm and he straightens, walking out of the room with false ease. A few minutes later, Jacob returns and claims her abandoned seat. “They’re in there, _talking.”_

Queenie sighs in relief. “Thank Merlin.”

Jacob chuckles. “Will you be all right alone? I want to go to the tea shop if I am allowed too. We all need something.”

“Yeah, you should be. Thank you, honey.” Jacob kisses her forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

-;

Matthias Scamander watches his son’s sleeping face, smiling softly when his gaze comes to rest on the still slumbering niffler. He knew when Theseus had wrote him, telling him that he and Newt had started spending time together, that he wouldn’t be able to resist his brother’s creatures. Didn’t he name the little beast Merry?

The niffler wakes up then, raising her head at the sudden noise. She squeaks at the sight of them and dashes up to sit on the top of Theseus’ head, giving them wary looks. “It’s all right, wee one.”

“How many of them does Newton have?” Fiona asks.

“Just the four.” They look towards the door and their younger son, looking absolutely _haggard,_ is standing there. “Well, five, if you count Merry, but she practically lives in Theseus’ pocket.”

Fiona flicks her wand and another chair appears beside the bed. Newt drops himself into it gratefully, opening his hands so Merry can crawl into them. She gives a happy squeak at the familiar face and settles down, using her tiny hands to pluck at the watch he wears on his wrist.

“I’m sorry, Newt.”

Matthias and Newt both stare at Fiona, unsure if the words actually came from her. Matthias fights a smile. He loves his wife, with all of his heart, but _merlin,_ the woman could never admit when she was wrong.

“I shouldn’t have said what I said and...what I thought. I was...”

“Go ahead, Fifi,” Matthias grins. Fiona scowls at the nickname. “Say it.”

“Fine, I was _wrong._ Are you two happy now?”

Newt laughs, for the first time in ages. “Quite, mother. Quite.”

They all fall silent, but this silence is comfortable, not awkward. Matthias leans forward and gently lifts up Theseus’ fingers, holding them tightly in his own and launches into a story. “Do you remember when you were little, maybe about seven? You were just starting to find the magic within you. You could make things fly, you could make things grow. And one day, you came into your brother’s nursery and made him fly.”

Newt burst into laughter, a rare and beautiful sound. “Did he really?”

Fiona chuckles, hiding the smile behind her hand. “He did. I walked in and you were literally on the ceiling. You were so happy and Theseus was so proud of himself. I had to make him let you go and you fell into my arms, giggling away. You were not afraid. But yet, you haven’t been afraid of much, have you Newt?”

“That’s not true.” Matthias raises a brow at his younger son but Newt doesn’t look away. “I’ve been afraid of many things.”

Fiona’s hands tremble at her sides and suddenly, one rests on Newt’s knee. “They’re strong.”

Matthias nods in agreement. “That they are.”

Pickett chooses that moment to pop his head out of Newt’s pocket, causing Fiona to shriek in surprise. Matthias snorts at the expression of alarm on his wife’s face and she scowls. “I’d forgotten about him!”

Newt lets Pickett climb out on his hand and offers him to Fiona. “Pickett, do you remember your Grandmum?”

Matthias has tears of mirth running down his cheeks as Fiona positively _growls._ “Do _not_ let him call me that!”

Newt smiles.

-;

For the next five days, they remain like that.

The Scamanders and the Kowalskis continue their shift changes, Matthias and Jacob each leaving the hospital a few times to go and collect food and bring back fresh changes of clothes. Newt finally goes down into his case to rest and spend a little time with the creatures. He brings up the eldest Niffler, the little escape artist, who spies Tina and crawls up onto the bed with her.

Matthias goes down into the case on the third day, his breath taken away at the world his son had created. Poppy the bowtruckle leaps down off of her tree and settles onto the top of Matthias’ head, using her twiggy fingers to pick through his greying hair. “Does she think I am a tree?”

Newt shrugs. “Possibly. See if she gets off your head when you try to leave.”

Needless to say, she doesn’t.

The healers continue to go in and out, and on the fourth day, a kind one who introduced herself as August, had thrown up her hands in irritation when she made to leave the room to go over to Theseus’. “This is ridiculous. I don’t know why we didn’t just put the two of them in the same room to start with!”

When the sun is dipping in the sky, the room is expanded and Theseus is brought in, along with a couple of chairs that are magicked into couches. “There,” August says as she prepares to leave to finish her rounds. “Much easier on all of us.”

“Thank you so much, dear,” Fiona calls after her as she goes.

-;

On the fifth day, Tina wakes up.

The healer had just left the room, telling them all that there was no change and uttering those horrid words.

_You should prepare yourselves._

Tina must have heard because, well, for lack of a better term, _fuck that._

Newt makes this gut wrenching sound and almost throws himself on his wife, stopping short when he remembers her injuries and takes to kissing her hands and face over and over. Queenie manages to take one hand and Jacob touches her feet, a few stubborn tears leaking down his cheeks and into his beard. “You gave us quite a scare there, Teen.”

Tina blinks several times, like she isn’t quite all there yet. “Wh –“ She licks her lips, her voice quite dry and raspy. “What happened?”

Newt manages to peel himself away from her. “What do you remember?”

“I remember...” Tina stares up at the ceiling, forehead furrowing. “...I’m not sure.” She exhales long and deep, noticing her in-laws. “It was bad though, wasn’t it?”

Queenie makes a noise. “Still is.”

“Wha – _Theseus.”_ Newt nods at the bed just a few feet away and it seems to take all of Tina’s strength to turn her head. She gasps in pain, fresh tears rolling down over her nose as she stares at her brother in law, and Queenie feels the memories settling in. She turns her face away as Newt wraps himself around his wife as she shakes and cries and comes apart in his arms.

-;

“I can read him. Sort of.”

Newt raises a brow. Merry sleeps in his hands, exhausted after scavenging the whole room. She had cheerfully stolen Fiona’s earrings right off of her ears, as well as Newt’s watch and Matthias’ tie clip. Newt had shown his mother how to successfully tickle the items out of Merry and that had been the first time she had seen Fiona grin in enjoyment in relation to her son’s creatures.

“What do you mean, Queenie?” Tina asks weakly. Pickett was sitting on top of her head, gently pulling on her matted hair in an attempt to make some sort of a nest. “Is he dreaming?”

Queenie shakes her head. “No, not quite. I cannot get a clear picture but he’s not...alone?” She wasn’t sure what she was seeing and hearing, she couldn’t put her finger on it but she didn’t feel...as afraid as she did before.

-;

_She’s bloody this time._

_He’s never seen her bloody before. She’s always in that same violet dress, the ‘death dress’ he calls it in his head. Her face is always breaking up into little bits and she’s fading away, screaming as he tries so hard to reach her._

_But she’s bloody this time._

_And she stays. “Why...?” He backs away slowly, those horrid tears already burning behind his eyes. This time she follows, her beautiful face contorting into a hateful expression and he nearly trips. “Why?! Why didn’t you save me, Theseus?! Didn’t you love me?”_

_He sobs then, still trying to walk away but not quite being able to do so. “Yes. Yes, I loved you so much.”_

_“_ Theseus _!”_

_His name is not coming from Leta. Not this Leta._

“Theseus Scamander, you old wanker!”

_The Leta in front of him is shoved away rather unceremoniously, replaced by another, brandishing what looks to be a fireplace poker. “Damn it!”_

_Theseus waits for the next chorus of painful accusations. He’s used to them, having come to expect visits from her in his dreams every night. Only when he took the Dreamless potion he would be free of her but as soon as he woke, she would return._

_This Leta doesn’t do any of that. This Leta looks like_ his _Leta and she’s glaring at him like she’d rather like to throttle him._ There she is. There she is.

_When she lunges for him, he doesn’t even bother to try and stay standing. His arms circle her waist as she knocks him to the ground, hands so tight on his shoulders it’s almost painful. “You fool!” she breathes into his ear. “You bloody fool.”_

_They remain like that and the world could be coming to an end. He doesn’t really care._

_What seems like a lifetime later, Leta peels herself off of him and they both slowly sit up. Their hands remain linked and Leta stares at them as she says, “What were you thinking?”_

_He could wake up. He could. But right here is the reason why he hasn’t yet._

_He had felt Tina’s spirit leave and go back. Something called her, something that he couldn’t hear. And then she was gone, leaving him alone in the dark._

_So he sat and waited for the ghosts to join him._

_“Because...” he begins dumbly and Leta slaps him right upside the head. “Hey!”_

_She’s glaring daggers at him, a familiar stare that he had withered under so many times. He could never get away with anything in the years they had shared and it had been she that had begged him to try again with Newt._

_“_ He’s the only brother you will have.”

_Theseus winces, his chest stinging with pain. But Newt wouldn’t be alone. He had Tina back, he had his friends and their parents and his creatures. He was never alone, even when his little brother had insisted he was._

_-;_

Newt helps Tina move slowly over to the other side of Theseus’ bed. Queenie cringes as she feels her sister’s pain. There’s still so much pain and that will take too long to heal.

But it _will_ heal.

The Scamanders had gone to get some rest, leaving the four of them and Theseus alone. Newt promised to send a Patronus if there was any change at all with Theseus, and that was good enough for the elder Scamanders.

Queenie rests her head on Jacob’s shoulder as she watches Newt ease his arm around Tina, keeping her from pretty much slumping over against his chest. “Tina, maybe you should --?”

_No._

Queenie doesn’t mention it again.

.

“I do remember that day.”

Newt’s voice is so quiet. He’s looking at his brother’s face, a small smile curling his lip up.

“I think you flying me around my nursery awakened my love for it. I remember overhearing Mother and Father telling you the rules of experimenting with your magic, and using it on me was of course, off limits.”

Tina chuckles wetly, wiping at her face. Her free hand rests on Newt’s knee, the other brushing the tips of Theseus’ fingers.

“I begged Mother and Father to let you do it again, to let me fly just one more time. They didn’t agree, obviously and you never wanted to go against what they said.” Newt smiles to himself. “I thought a lot about that later, during the war.”

“About him flying you around when you were children?” Tina asks.

Newt chuckles, gazing at a crack in the floor. “It was a nice moment,” he admits.

-;

_A warmth fills his chest._

_Theseus’ hand snakes to where his heart beats, and Leta’s hand covers his own. He looks up, up towards the empty sky where a small light has appeared, almost like someone had lit a candle in the dark._

_“Do you feel that?” He looks at Leta and she smiles. “That’s home, right there.”_

_“Leta...”_

  _She shakes her head. “You don’t want to be here, Theseus.”_

 _“_ You’re _here.”_

 _“Not always,” she tells him and Theseus falls silent. “I came because I knew you needed me. But Thes, you are not going to need me anymore.” She places a finger on his lips when he opens his mouth to protest. “You’re_ not.” _Her voice is more gentle than ever and when he looks into her eyes, he sees the truth._

_She’s okay._

_The light above is starting to grow, its warmth increasing like the sun._

_“Why did you leave?”_ Why did you leave me?

_Leta licks her lips. “The moments of happiness through my life were increasingly rare and I never found a balance after everything that happened when I was a child. And then Newt wandered in and –“ She breaks off in a smile. “And then I met you. You know Newt didn’t talk about you much unless I pushed him. All he would say was ‘my hero older brother’ and that was it.” Leta laughs out loud, lost in a memory. “I was curious but I never pushed.” Theseus snorts and she pokes him. “After all of that, when he started the Fiendfyre, I knew I couldn’t do it again –“_

_Her voice cracks on the last word. Theseus squeezes her hand tightly in his and she closes her eyes, taking in a deep breath. “You don’t have too – you_ didn’t _have too.”_

_Leta’s eyes flicker open and she smiles. “I know.”_

_The warmth above them is increasing and he could sleep. He wants to lay here with her forever, and never let her go but he can tell when Leta stiffens in his arms, that that is not the case._

_“You can’t stay.”_

_He licks his lips, his throat dry. “I know.”_

_They get to their feet slowly, still wrapped around each other. She manages another one of those beautiful rare smiles, glancing up to the light in the sky. “You’re going to live to be very old, and have many little Scamanders running around.” Theseus laughs wetly. “And when the time comes, which won’t be for a very long time, when you lay down to sleep, I’ll be waiting.”_

_Leta pulls away then, as slow as she can, until just their hands are linked. He sees another light form, this time in front of them. It’s soft, and inviting, and he knows that is her home now._

_“It’s amazing, Theseus,” she says, her face stretched out in the largest smile that doesn’t mask the standing tears in her eyes._

_Their fingers fall away from each other’s and she turns, the emerald light starting to swallow her up. The last thing he sees, the last thing he feels is her lips pressing to his, his own tears starting to fall._

_He looks up, letting the light in the sky take him in._

_-;_

_“_ Are you _daft?!_ Apple spice strudel is the best!”

“You’re only saying that because you’re married to my sister and that is her specialty!”

Jacob shakes his head. “No, I’m not. She knows when I am full of baloney so why would I lie?”

Newt chuckles into his hand, the other still holding Tina’s.

Theseus notices a small downy soft bundle sitting on his chest, the same time the niffler notices him. Merry begins to chatter in excitement, pushing her tiny hands in to his chest as she bounces up and down.

“Merry, please don’t do that – _Theseus?”_

-;

They’re alone for the first time in nearly three hours.

Healers had been in and out of the room, examining him, doing vitals, casting spells, and Theseus was about ready to scream.

Their parents had Apparated back to their hotel a few minutes before and Jacob took the Floo back home, joking that he needed to reopen the bakery _eventually._ Queenie and Tina were strolling the halls, her healer assuring her that walking was best, leaving the two brothers alone.

Someone had brought him a tray of food, small portions with bland things that didn’t look too appetizing. Theseus guessed this was because he had been out for nearly a week and they didn’t want him throwing it all right back up.

Newt sees this. “Jacob promised to bring back some turkey sandwiches later.”

Theseus’ mouth lifts in what he hopes is a convincing smile. “Thanks.” Merry sleeps in his lap, a fuzzy bundle of warmth. Newt hadn’t been able to pry her off, not even with food and Theseus wasn’t complaining. He pushes away the tray and it floats to the end of the bed, his fingers gently tracing the outline of Merry’s spine.

“The healers want to keep you and Tina here for a little while longer,” Newt says. “I think it’ll be maybe just a few days.”

“It doesn’t matter, Newt. At the moment I can barely move so...” Theseus shrugs his shoulders and winces at the mere movement. The two brothers fall into silence, but it’s more companionable and comfortable than usually. Merry’s soft weight on Theseus’s lap is soothing and he feels like he’s ready to fall back into sleep. Being in a coma was certainly exhausting. “She was there.”

Newt nearly drops his book. He looks up at him, eyes wide with understanding and Theseus’ heart turns over in his chest. “She- _she...”_

Theseus nods. “She was so _mad_ at me.” He laughs quietly. “She literally hit me in the head.”

Newt chuckles wetly. “Yeah that sounds like her.”

Theseus continues to stroke Merry’s ginger fur, the niffler snoozing on contentedly. “I wanted to stay with her, Newt.” He tries not to wince when his brother flinches. “I wanted to stay so bad. But she wouldn’t let me.”

“If she had...?”

The unsaid words hang heavy in the air and Theseus shakes his head. _Would you have stayed?_ “No.”

He’s not a liar this time around.

Newt swallows loudly. “Thes, I want you to listen to me.” Theseus waits. “At the risk of sounding...not like myself –“ He struggles with the words, and Theseus continues to wait patiently. “ – you’re not alone here. You never were. Mother and Dad are here, me and Tina, and Queenie and Jacob. And _them,”_ he nods at the sleeping Merry. “We’re all here and we’re not going anywhere...okay?” He adds that last word on, almost unsure of it and Theseus bites down hard on his bottom lip, breathing in deeply through his nose. “Sorry.”

Theseus shakes his head. “Don’t be. Th-thank you, little brother.”

They fall into silence again but it’s broken almost immediately by Newt. “Was she...was she happy?”

He dips his chin in response. “Yeah. Yeah she was. She was – she was at peace. And, uh, she said –“ he hesitates, feeling a little selfish. Newt pats his hand, understanding in his eyes. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. _Please.”_

Theseus’ thumb curls around to hold onto the tips of Newt’s fingers and he doesn’t pull away. Merry turns in her sleep and rolls onto her back, and Theseus glimpses something sticking out of her pouch. He carefully reaches down and pulls out a small silver teaspoon with a raven etched onto the handle.

“This was part of Leta’s set. She looked all over the house for it, she always said that she thought that one of your nifflers took it during the photoshoot for the book launch.”

Newt bursts out laughing, waking an agitated Merry in the process. “You little devil!”

Merry glimpses the spoon in Theseus’ hand and reaches out for it. He grins and hands it back to her. “Keep it safe for me?” He swears the niffler _nods_ and takes the spoon back, returning it into her pouch.

.

Neither brother notices the sisters outside the door.

“Are you doing that?” Tina whispers, shivering at the sudden shift of mood. She’s feeling lighter and better than she has in ages.

Queenie nods. “Some. They’re doing the rest.”

Tina’s hand slides down to take Queenie’s, their fingers lacing together. “It’s not going to be easy, is it?”

“No, it’s not. But –“ A smile crosses her lips as her mind becomes overwhelmed with images. She sends the images to Tina, who almost sighs in relief. Pictures of Jacob, of Newt and Theseus, of each other, even the elder Scamanders, flood her mind. They’re all there, and they’re happy.

_We have each other. And that’s all we will ever need._

_._

**Author's Note:**

> If this gets enough feedback, I shall keep going. :D
> 
> edit: Now a series!


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